Article 1306

United States Masters Swimming

When the starting gun goes off June 8 at Sandy Point State Park for the Great Chesapeake Bay Swim, among the 600 participants will be a contingent of four brothers. More than four miles and two hours later, the Woodlawn-raised siblings will claim a record 51 Bay Swim finishes for the family name.

The "swimming Matyseks," all of whom are products of United States Masters Swimming (USMS), have come from up and down the East Coast to meet in Annapolis each year since 1986 for the challenging open-water swim. Through 2002, the Matyseks, including their late brother Gene, have started a total of 49 races, completing 47. The two did not finish races were in 1991, when ebb currents in the bay were so strong that fewer than 20 percent of the participants were able to complete the swim.